Social Contribution of TRY 1.5 Billion from Vodafone Turkey Foundation in 16 Years

Operating with the vision of “Technology for the Greater Good”, Vodafone Turkey Foundation has continued to ease the lives of individuals and society in 2023. In the last 16 years, Vodafone Turkey Foundation projects with a real value of TL 270 million have made a social contribution of TRY 1.5 billion*.

The Foundation provided coding training to more than 300 thousand children with the “Coding Tomorrow” project and enabled more than 15 thousand women to benefit from technology training with the “Connected Women” project. The Foundation extended these projects to the earthquake zone and touched the lives of thousands of children and women there.

Committed to pioneering social change and development, Vodafone Turkey Foundation continued to respond to social needs through the power of technology in 2023. Whereas the real value of the projects implemented by the Foundation amounted to TRY 270 million in 16 years, its social contribution reached TRY 1.5 billion. The “Coding Tomorrow” project by the Foundation reached more than 300 thousand children, while “Connected Women” benefited more than 15 thousand women. The Foundation also carried these projects to the earthquake zone and assisted in healing the wounds. The Foundation reached more than 81 thousand children with the “Coding Tomorrow Supports Social Life” project organized in 11 cities most affected by the earthquake and provided handicraft training to more than 2 thousand women with 15 training containers established in 3 cities as part of the “Connected Women” project. The Foundation also touched the lives of more than 2 thousand people with the Child and Family Centers opened in 3 cities in cooperation with AÇEV.

Hasan Süel, the Chair of Vodafone Turkey Foundation, made the following remarks:

“As Vodafone Turkey Foundation, we have been shaping our activities with the vision of ‘Technology for the Greater Good’ since our first day. We tailor all our projects in line with the social needs of our country and according to the social needs map we have determined through surveys. We strive to remove the barriers before individuals who are unable to benefit from the opportunities of social life or to survive in economic life. Women and children are our priority. While the real value of the projects we carry out under our foundation has amounted to TRY 270 million in 16 years, the social contribution has reached TRY 1.5 billion. Following the earthquake, we considered how to heal the wounds and adapted our ongoing projects to the needs of the earthquake zone. We have so far reached thousands of people with the ‘Coding Tomorrow Support Social Life’ project and ‘Connected Women’ training containers as well as Child and Family Centers, which we have implemented to support children and women in the region. As long as container cities exist, we will be there for them.”

Coding training for children affected by earthquake

Vodafone Turkey Foundation, in collaboration with the Habitat Association, initiated a new project called “Coding Tomorrow Supports Social Life” in the earthquake zone. As part of the project, music and fairy tale workshops, coding trainings, and various social activities are organized for children aged 7-14 in container technology classes set up in Adiyaman, Kahramanmaras, Malatya, and Hatay as well as in the mobile tent school visiting villages, tent cities and container cities in 11 cities affected by the disaster. Children also receive psychosocial support through play therapy. The project has so far reached over 81 thousand children, and the ultimate goal was to reach 100 thousand children in the first year. The “Hackathon for Technological Solutions to Natural Disasters” was also organized for high school students.

Handicraft training for earthquake survivors

Vodafone Turkey Foundation adapted its “Connected Women” project to the region and established 15 training containers in Kahramanmaras, Hatay, and Adiyaman. In these containers, the Foundation offers female trainees the opportunity to take part in traditional handicraft courses and create handmade products. It also supports women to improve their digital skills and sell their traditional products on digital channels with the “Introduction to the Digital World” trainings developed especially for the region. The project has reached more than 2 thousand women to date.

Child and Family Centers in disaster areas

Vodafone Turkey Foundation also carried out a project in cooperation with the Mother Child Education Foundation (AÇEV) to support those living in the disaster areas. The Child and Family Centers established in Adiyaman, Gaziantep, and Hatay, as part of the project, provide psychosocial support to those affected by the earthquake, compensate for children’s learning losses, assist parents in their parenting roles, and increase their skills to support their children’s development during this period and empower young women. The project has reached more than 2 thousand people to date. The centers are expected to reach 4,500 children and parents as well as 2,500 young women in the first year.

“Easy Rescue” downloaded 378 thousand times

In 2023, the Vodafone Turkey Foundation also kept supporting the protection of women from violence by using the power of technology. The “Easy Rescue” app, launched by the Foundation 9 years ago, enables women to easily notify the police or their relatives when they are subjected to violence. The app has been downloaded 378 thousand times to date.

*Calculated using Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology. The SROI methodology, which is used to calculate the value created by social-based projects, measures the change created by projects in a way that includes parties who experience or affect this change, thus ensuring that decisions on the fate of projects are made in a data-based manner.